Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Observant Women

In the first one hour at work this morning, I ran into 8 people from my team (6 of them being men and 2 women). They all asked how my vacation to Florida was and I had my standard answer "short!" But the women didn't stop with just that. They went one step ahead and showcased their observational skills meticulously. They both casually said that I got some nice tan. I gotta admit that my skin is a little sensitive and shows up change in color pretty fast. But this time, the tanning (thanks to the Sun, he was scorching and heating the soil to 85 F) I thought wasn't all that starkly blatant. But these women they find out. And my boss she asked me if I slept at all in the last 3 days. Maybe my eyes showed.

In general, I have observed that women observe a lot. They know you and that’s it - they have this ability to sense the minutest change. This is especially amazing, when most of the guys would not recognize the change, even after a lucid explanation. I go to work with a half-sleeved shirt, one of my lady colleagues would be the 1st to ask me about it. I have a hair-cut, one of the ladies would ask. I don’t shave and go to work, one of the ladies would ask. I don’t get a proper sleep last night and get a small black circle around my eyes, one of the ladies would ask first. It's just not at work it works the same way with my friends circle too. When guys don’t notice or have a problem with me not tucking my shirt, most of the ladies would. They would at least ask me for an explanation.

Maybe it’s the way women are created to be - to find out all minute details and to candidly ask about it too. Considering me, I find it a little difficult to notice changes in people, unless they make it too-obvious-so-one-can-never-miss types. Hypothetically for example my male project manager dressing up in a silk saree or my fat female colleague sporting a bikini to work or my peers walking in the cafetaria in NASA space-suits. Other than such clamant changes, I react the same way to them. I once even missed out noticing when one of my cousins asked me if I notice any change in her face. She actually had a "nose-poke"(is that what they call it?) and in spite of her wearing a nose-ring, I blinked and guessed if she did some hair-coloring. Though not all men are as stupid, most of them fail to notice small changes in people. But almost all women on seeing somebody get to the job quickly and scan for the change. And adeptly identify it too. Maybe that’s the same reason Indian women are obsessed about purchasing bling bling jewelry and silk sarees. And make sure that they showcase in the weddings and public functions.

They are so smart that when lady1 sees lady2 in a wedding, she instantly saves the details of lady2 along with her attributes (like color of the saree, type of the jewelry, amount of jewelry, etc.). The next time they meet in a common function, lady1 would do a quick scan and compare her current sight to what is already stored in her database. If she finds a match, this is how the conversation would mostly be like:

lady1: "Oh! You are wearing the same necklace that you wore last time around too!"lady2: "Yaa, just like your third bangle from the front on your left hand. I saw you wearing that last week in Ravi's wedding too".lady2: "??!!"

One can see this kind of a behavioral trend, not just in weddings but in all women-women encounters. When college girls meet up, most of the conversations would involve at some point or the other "Hey, this earring is so cute" or "hey, this outfit suits u so well" or "you must not have wore a dupatta for this" or whatever. Even small girl kids from school when they interact would talk about their plaited hairs or their uniform skirts. And I have seen my Paati talk about how her Madisaar looks rich compared to her counter-part-neighbor Vanaja Maami. After all this, I tend to jump to a conclusion that women in general are pretty observant.

So, women get used to correctly identifying the change in the other person, ask for an explanation and get what they look for most of the times. And slowly they extend this behavior towards men too. And gradually towards everything around them. They know if something in their surrounding changes. Even to a very small extent. After all, it is of course nice to be noticed at times. At other times, it might not.

Pretty true , I happened to read a bio magazine when travelling back to chennai this week - there was a related review on this where this is proven to be the behavioral pattern of almost all women across the world .. sort of 'manufacturing attribute' I would say... One of a noted tamil orator attached this 'function' to 'forced insecure behaviour'.. not sure which one is right...

The general biological clock has stood that 'right from the birth - a girl baby is pretty observant when compared to a baby boy.....

As long as the observations stand on the fun line... u can have your share of fun and more data to write :)

uh-oh, yeah, like this one time when i got my eyebrows done..i had even my oh-dunno-who girls comin up to me and askin about it..and my close male friends/family members didnt even notice the change!me? am okay, extreme. too observational or nothin-at-all, once i noticed that a house had been broken down..my lane, a month after it was! yuh-ikes!

agree with you there dude.Not just observant, too much technicality as well.For instance;Guy1: Hey, nice shirt, where'd you get it?Guy2: Thanks. It's frm ColorPlus.=End of discussion=

Girl1:Hey, nice saree...isn't this the one your cousin wore to nimi's wedding?

Girl2:Thanks, no this has a creme border with yellow roses, I got it at BigShop...it was a bargain; you should go. The one my cousin wore had a pink border with dark yellow flowers, she got it from SareeWorld...bad price, I didn't even like the salesgirl's dressing there...*loop back infinite*